A high flow rate catheter is a tubular medical device defining one or more lumens for transporting fluids to and/or from a patient's body at a high flow rate, e.g. greater than 200 ml/min. An example of a commonly used high flow rate catheter is a hemodialysis catheter. Hemodialysis catheters include at least one lumen for transporting a patient's waste-filled blood to a dialysis machine for treatment, and another lumen for carrying the treated blood back to the patient. Generally, hemodialysis catheters are implanted within a patient's body such that a portion remains within a blood vessel of the patient and a portion extends outside of the patient body to be connected to the dialysis machine.
Conventionally, clamps that compress the lumens of the hemodialysis catheter have been used to prevent blood loss and to prevent ingestion of air through the catheter and into a patient's blood stream (i.e., when the catheter is not in use). These clamps tend to degrade the hemodialysis catheter, thereby requiring medical professionals to remove and replace these catheters frequently. In addition, conventional high flow rate catheters are associated with a high occurrence of occlusion formation and infections.